Tripping on skirts on stairs -- I do that a fair amount, because I never remember that the skirts will do that until I reach the stairs -- they're fine on level ground.

I just ogled mens' pockets on the way back from the microwave. So many variations! Does the vertical opening pocket catch much?

I have a pair of cargo pants with velcro on the pocket flaps, and strange things are constantly getting stuck to the velcro (and my butt.) Once I almost walked out a store with a pair of socks attached to my ass.

I ruined a nice leather jacket by bounding up a flight of stairs and catching one of the belt loops on the handrail. Tore a huge rip up that side of the jacket.

Does the vertical opening pocket catch much?

Yeah, sometimes.

The most annoying thing for me about such pockets is that twice I've had my wallet fall out of my front pocket while at a movie theater - both times I was wearing pants with the nearly vertical opening....

Someday I will remember that ankle-length skirts with lace trim on the hem should not be worn with the boots that have speed-lacing hooks. Someday I will remember this when I am getting dressed in the morning, not when I have managed to hobble myself while walking down the hallway.

Don't forget I'm talking about situations in which I've already moved your body into the desired position. From then on, can't you tell that when I say "pivot" I mean "recreate that kinaesthetic feeling"?

OK I probably would know I had not pivoted. But you know, I can forget how to recreate a kinaethetic feeling three minutes after I have been through it. To learn any kind of body move I have to do it repeatedly ten times in a row five or six days in a row. Then I won't forget it, as long as I don't skip more than two days.

I suspect the particular person you are talking about had "I'm never wrong" mentallity. But with pivots in particular I know how it could happen with me. I went through a thing where I had problems in particular pivoting into a specific position that was uncomfortable for me. So I had to look to make sure I did it. And then as soon as I looked away I pivoted back without noticing it. It took me a while to learn that if stopped hurting I was out of position. The problem is that I have a pretty high pain tolerance, so I had not noticed that it hurt when I did it or that it had stopped until I went through the "You are not pivoting" "Yes I am" "No you are not". Tt took the instructor and me until the third session of figure out what was going on. Also I did a lot punishment pushups until the instructor figured out that I was not intentionally lying. (The instructor was an ex-marine.)

OTOH, the nice thing about the nearly vertical openings is that you can put your hands in your pockets and look much cooler than if you had your hands in more conventional pockets (as the pockets are deeper).

Fascinating discussion on body-awareness and stage movement. I have always, always always been clumsy and unaware. Every movement was fraught with equal expectation of sucessful completion and crash-and-burn. I took ballet as a small child, which, really, only helped me fall more gracefully.

I'm a very graceful faller, and I rarely get seriously hurt.

Imagine my surprise when I had small children and suddenly I could grab falling objects or small bodies out of midair without conscious thought or preparation. Make it halfway across the room to snatch a toddler away from an unprotected light socket. Turn as I fell with a baby in my arms to land, unhurt, on my back, with the baby cradled safely in my arms, laughing and no doubt thinking, "That was fun! Do it again!"

Oddly, I kept most of the adeptness. But I'm still thoughtlessly clumsy, and I'd be seriously alarmed and disoriented if I didn't frequently trip over small to nonexistant obstacles or bash into table corners and doorframes.

This was inflicted upon me in email. I feel it's only fair to share.

I took ballet as a small child, which, really, only helped me fall more gracefully.

I'm a very graceful faller, and I rarely get seriously hurt.

Karate did the same thing for me. I can't fight worth a damn, but I can usually recover from a stumble without falling, and when I do fall I automatically do the arm slap that minimizes the chances of being hurt. I'm a klutz, but I'm good at it.

I also spent an entire PBS Great Performances arguing over whether the tradition of hiding a ballerina's hips (with skirtage) necessarily means that hips aren't pretty and exciting to look at.

Uh... it's the same tradition as hiding a woman's hips with skirtage. Dresses had skirts, bathing suits had skirts, ballet costumes had skirts. When skirts disappeared from bathing suits, they disappeared from some ballet costumes.

In a Balanchine ballet, the ballerina is as likely as not to be wearing just a leotard and tights. And shoes, of course.